Hopefully the blokes across the pond will pardon the faint praise. Five days in London beats just about any NBA road destination and duration, even if many players would prefer L.A. weather, South Beach nightlife and so forth.

It's just that for the Milwaukee Bucks, last season was spent largely in exile, one spent near the bottom of the NBA standings, trying (and mostly failing) to maintain some dignity while chasing after the No. 1 Draft pick.

A year ago, this sort of Global Game trip would have been dragged down by the negatives of what became the league's lousiest record (15-67). Now the Bucks can hold their heads as high as those chaps in furry hats outside the Queen's home.

At 20-19, already having won five more games than in 2013-14 and 13 more through 39 games than last season, the Bucks should be proud of what they'll put on the court Thursday at London's O2 Arena (3 p.m. ET, NBA TV).

Theywoke up Wednesday not just above .500 -- something the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't say -- but also holding the No. 5 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

Their opponents this week, the 5-35 New York Knicks? They woke up in England.

Probably wondering about all the spelling changes in their "favourite" words ("offence?") and poking at their kidney pies.

"It's an exciting time for the Milwaukee Bucks," coach Jason Kidd said last weekend in Chicago, their last stop before heading overseas.

It's been head-spinning, actually, what with all the young players, Kidd and his new coaching staff and a change in ownership from Herb Kohl, the venerable former U.S. Senator, to private equity moguls Wes Edens and Marc Lasry.

A Who's Who of Milwaukee heavyweights have been brought into the ownership group, too, as limited partners as the franchise attempts to woo the final $200 million or so from taxpayers for a new arena to replace BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Most Milwaukeeans live in homes twice that building's age (1988). But there's some momentum and good will about the Bucks now that didn't exist 12 months ago. And certainly not about their on-court product even six months ago.

Asked if he sensed much fan and media support for the Bucks heading into the preseason, Kidd (after claiming he pays no attention to that stuff anyway) said:

"Going out on a limb, no. Why would they? They just had a bad year the year before. They're taking the No. 2 pick. We're gonna have two or three second-round players. We're the second-youngest team in the league. A new coaching staff. So I don't see why we'd be picked to do anything. And right now we haven't done anything. We've still got a long ways to go."

A repeat of what the Bucks already have done, though, might get them where they want to go: They're 14-5 against sub-.500 teams, the ones they realistically can hope to beat (and there are plenty in the East).

They've won 16 of the 21 games in which they've held opponents below 100 points. They're deeper and better offensively, but they have soared at the other end from 29th in defensive rating in 2013-14 to fourth. Milwaukee has strung together a dozen performances holding foes below 50 percent shooting.

"When they sub, there's not a drop-off," said Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau. "It's been very impressive. Their defense has been terrific."

Said Kidd: "The record hasn't come into play at all. [The players'] goal as a team -- they talk about it with one another -- is to try to make the playoffs. So that's all we're working towards. Trying to get better each time we take the floor and understanding the big picture."

That requires progress, something that Kidd measures from the Bucks' first game to their 32nd. In the opener at Charlotte, Milwaukee squandered a 24-point lead and lost in overtime, a serious flashback to last season's failings. But on Dec. 29, again on the Hornets' court, the Bucks blew a lead of 21 points to get dragged once more into OT, only to score 21 in those extra five minutes. Instead of falling into bad habits, they pulled even at 16-16.

"I think you can see guys are getting better and we're growing as a team," Kidd said. "There's not just one guy that we're relying on. Whether it's Jabari [Parker] or Giannis [Antetokounmpo], we're not built around just one player."

No fooling. The Bucks lost Parker -- the NBA GMs' preseason pick for Rookie of the Year -- after just 25 games. He's done for the season after ACL surgery on his left knee. Center Larry Sanders, the Bucks' finest rim protector, is on a vague, indefinite layoff for "personal reasons" with no return date even penciled in.

Forward John Henson missed a month with an ankle sprain and forward Ersan Ilyasova has missed half the games, first with a broken nose and then with a concussion (he's expected to face the Knicks).

It's not as if any of their teammates have shouldered the load with dynamite individual play. Point guard Brandon Knight is having his best season, but he still is most comfortable setting up himself for shots. Antetokounmpo is more efficient but his minutes (27.7 per game) still can be spotty and his YouTube highlights have dropped off.

No, it's been more of a group effort. From an especially deep backcourt to a versatile frontcourt.

"Trust," Kidd said, citing the No. 1 factor in Milwaukee's resiliency so far. "And I don't think we talk about guys being out. We talk about guys who are playing. For us it's the next guy up. We've got a lot of guys who want to play. That also helps. But I think trust -- those guys trust that, whether they're injured or they're coming out for a couple minutes, the guys coming in are going to do their jobs."

The Bucks are doing them well. In fact, given Thursday's tipoff time here in the colonies and the British customs involved this week, one might say Milwaukee is doing them to a tea.